A wireless station may connect to other stations in a wireless local area network (WLAN) at a point in time with either a basic service set (BSS) connection, via an access point (AP) connection, or may connect directly to another wireless station using an independent basic service set (IBSS) connection, referred to as an “Ad-Hoc” connection. The BSS connection may connect wireless stations to a central control device, for example, the AP. The IBSS connection has no central control and may directly connect a plurality of wireless stations, without an intermediary device.
A wireless station with a BSS connection may be connected or associated with an AP. Such a station may be referred to as an “associated wireless station”. A wireless station without a BSS connection may not be associated with an AP. Such a station may be referred to as an “unassociated wireless station”. A channel that is used for supporting a connection may be referred to as a “serving channel”. Other channels may be referred to as “non-serving” channels. IEEE-Std 802.11, 1999 Edition (ISO/IEC 8802-11: 1999) standard or other standards may define a set of frequencies or channels that may be used for wireless connections. A wireless station may use different serving channels to support different connections. A wireless station may only maintain a connection when operating over the serving channel that supports the connection.
In order for a wireless station to establish a BSS connection, the wireless station may scan a plurality of channels, until the wireless station detects a serving channel used by an AP. A station may scan a sequence of channels, for example, incrementally, over a defined frequency range, for example, by transmitting or receiving information at each channel. Information necessary to establish a BSS connection between the wireless station and the AP may be supplied to the wireless station, in a plurality of out-of-band modes, for example, manually programmed into the station by a user.
In order for two or more wireless stations to establish an IBSS connection, one stationary wireless station may wait on one channel to meet another switching wireless station. The scanning wireless station may scan a plurality of channels to detect the channel where the stationary station is waiting. Since the scanning station has no prior knowledge about the meeting channel, this process may consume significant time. Furthermore, when two or more wireless stations concurrently search a plurality of channels, the stations may never meet.
A need exists for wider wireless connection capabilities for wireless stations.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the drawings have not necessarily been drawn accurately or to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity or several physical components included in one functional block or element. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the drawings to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Moreover, some of the blocks depicted in the drawings may be combined into a single function.